Blog: So, here we are, after five days of talks we’re still not sure who is going to be running the country. And do you know who I blame? I blame anybody who couldn’t be bothered to vote last Thursday.

It’s a depressing thought, but after weeks of campaigning, after a terrible recession and with our soldiers fighting overseas, with, in other words, everything to play for, only 65 per cent eligible voters actually made the effort to take part in the election. The other 35 per cent? God alone knows.

True, there are some distinctions to be made here. Some people couldn’t vote because they were turned away when the polling stations closed at 10pm – but at least they made the effort. (Although they could have made that effort a bit earlier; the polling stations opened at 7am.)

And there have been stories of polling stations being so busy they ran out of ballot papers, so we really cannot blame the voters there, or those who had trouble with the postal vote system, but even allowing for those groups, the fact is millions of people didn’t bother.

And the result? Hours and hours of news coverage as the Liberal Democrats play ‘Risk’ with Labour and the Conservatives.

We wouldn’t be having this if a few more people had made the effort to exercise their hard-won right to vote.

But there are some people who seem to take pride in the fact they didn’t bother. ‘Well,’ they say, ‘I didn’t vote because they don’t represent my views.’ Rubbish. Or it’s ‘I didn’t vote because they’re all as bad as each other’. Drivel.

Yes the system’s flawed. Yes it’s ridiculous that millions of votes are effectively wasted and that a party with thirty per cent of the vote can win.   Big deal. That doesn’t stop you.

In Australia voting is compulsory. You have to vote. I believe we should have the same rule here.

After all, if you can’t be bothered to make the effort, if you can’t drag yourself away from the telly for half an hour every five years to put a cross on a ballot paper, if you  really cannot make the effort to read a newspaper occasionally  or check who stands for what online or in a manifesto, then you have forfeited all rights to complain about whoever gets in.

That’s assuming somebody eventually does get in.

If you didn’t vote, I blame you for this situation.

By Andrew Owen